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1 Sept 2003 : Column 950W—continued
Pain Relief
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) accident and emergency attendances and (b) GP attendances there were relating to pain in each region in each year since 1997; [126350]
- (2) if he will estimate the cost to the NHS of treating pain in England in the last 12 months; [126351]
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(3) if he will estimate the prevalence of chronic pain in England in each year since 1997; [126353]
(4) what proportion of the population under 18 suffered from (a) chronic pain, (b) recurrent pain and (c) pain which has lasted more than a month in each year since 1997; [126354]
(5) how many (a) finished consultant episodes and (b) hospital admissions there were relating to pain in each region in each year since 1997. [126438]
Mr. Hutton: Pain management is an important component of most patients' care, and is provided as part of overall treatment. The Department's Hospital Episode Statistics records information on diagnosis and procedures carried out in the national health service. It does not record information on the prevalence of pain in England, the cost to the NHS of treating pain, or the number of finished consultant episodes and hospital admissions relating to pain.
Patient Advocacy and Liaison Service
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 10 July 2003, Official Report, columns 1041–42W, on the Patient Advocacy and Liaison Service, if he will place in the Library the information collected by the recent mapping exercise. [126344]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A list of trusts reporting that they have an active patient advice and liaison service (PALS) is available in the Library. The list, together with contact details for the trusts, is also available on the PALS website at: www.doh.gov.uk/patientadviceandliaisonservice/
Patients Choice Initiative
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information will be available to patients to enable them to take part in the patients' choice initiative. [112157]
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Mr. Hutton: Good quality information and effective support will be needed to enable patients to make informed choices. The Department of Health is examining the information patients and clinicians will need to inform patients' choice over the hospital or other healthcare provider where they are treated, and how to provide this information effectively. The Department is also considering the lessons from the London and coronary heart disease choice pilots which have employed patient care advisors to support patients in making their choice, including providing information about the choice on offer.
Information currently available to patients include the star ratings for all hospitals, waiting times for out-patient, day case and in-patient treatment and the information available on individual provider websites.
Information for patients will improve in the future as choice is extended to include convenience with regard to location and transport access and relevant clinical performance measures. Information that is currently available from a variety of sources will be gathered together, made available through the single entry point of nhs.uk, and will be easily accessible during the patient booking process.
Pay Costs
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 28 April 2003, Official Report, columns 279–80W, on NHS inspection staff, what the total pay costs incurred by the (a) Commission for Health Improvement, (b) National Institute for Clinical Excellence, (c) National Care Standards Commission and (d) Social Services Inspectorate were in each year since 1997. [113388]
Mr. Hutton: The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) came into being on 1 November 1999 and began to conduct a rolling programme of clinical governance reviews in 2001. An important aspect of this work is to complete a Clinical Governance Review of 500 national health service organisations by 2004. The total cost incurred in inspection work in each year since 1999 is shown in the table.
| Annual staffing costs (£) | Staff employed | Full-time managers involved in inspection | Overall full-time staff involved in inspection | Total number of staff involved in inspections | Total pay costs of inspections (£) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–00 | 592,000 | 111 | 14 | 13 | 27 | 230,756 |
| 2000–01 | 4,791,000 | 248 | 44 | 42 | 86 | 1,482,077 |
| 2001–02 | 11,492,000 | 330 | 59 | 62 | 121 | 5,897,395 |
| 2002–03 | (82)16,359,000 | 334 | 59 | 69 | 128 | 7,444,475 |
(82) Pre audited figure
The rising costs are due to a large staff increase to undertake clinical governance reviews. CHI has completed 297 clinical governance reviews across a range of NHS bodies.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) was established in April 1999. It is a special health authority set up to give advice on best clinical practice to NHS clinicians, to those commissioning NHS services and to patients and carers. None of NICE'S work are involved in inspection work. The total staffing cost since 1999 is shown in the table.
| Annual staffing costs (£) | Staff employed | Staff engaged in inspection work | Total pay costs of inspections | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–00 | 673,000 | 17 | n/a | n/a |
| 2000–01 | 1,320,000 | 32 | n/a | n/a |
| 2001–02 | 1,944,000 | 40 | n/a | n/a |
| 2002–03 | 2,706,000 | 59 | n/a | n/a |
The increase in the staffing costs for NICE is due to an increase in the number of staff employed at NICE.
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The National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) became fully operational on 1 April 2002. The NCSC is responsible for registration and inspection of health and social care services in England. The total cost incurred in inspection work in the year 2002 is shown in the table.
| 2002–03 | |
|---|---|
| Annual staffing cost (£) | 69,118,000 |
| Staff employed (number) | 2,285 |
| Staff engaged in inspection work (number) | 1,350 |
| Total pay costs of inspections (£ million) | 49 |
The annual staffing cost is due to the number of staff employed.
The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) is a division of the Department of Health. The structure and functions of both the Department and the SSI have changed over the period 1998–99 and 2002–03. The SSI inspects councils with social services responsibilities in England, and from this and other evidence, it assesses and reports on councils' performance, and where necessary makes recommendations for improvement.
The total cost incurred in inspection work in each year since 1998 is shown in the table.
| Annual staffing costs (£) | Staff employed | Staff engaged in inspection work | Total pay costs of inspections (£) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 5,000,000 | 156 | 92 | 2,981,551 |
| 1998–99 | 5,000,000 | 156 | 91 | 2,975,727 |
| 1999–2000 | 6,400,000 | 156 | 91 | 3,588,457 |
| 2000–01 | 7,800,000 | 198 | 108 | 4,443,699 |
| 2001–02 | 8,800,000 | 229 | 127 | 4,621,494 |
| 2002–03 | 9,200,000 | 236 | 120 | n/a |
There are four reasons why costs have increased in this period:
- The increase in numbers of social services authorities took time to work its way through to additional inspection work
Modernising Social Services led to an annual review of council performance
There has been a move towards working alongside councils to improve their performance
Joint Reviews with the Audit Commission have expanded, and these figures include the SSI costs of Joint Reviews
Learning Disabilities
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received concerning rent convergence when applied to specialist housing for those with learning disabilities. [126062]
Keith Hill: I have been asked to reply.
Private Office Costs
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what have been the running costs of Ministers' private offices in his Department in each year since 1997. [123112]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Parliamentary demands on private offices have risen since 1997. The information requested is shown in the table.
| Private office expenditure (£) | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 1,848,676 |
| 1998–99 | 2,143,894 |
| 1999–2000 | 2,652,686 |
| 2000–01 | 2,871,965 |
| 2001–02 | 2,876,430 |
| 2002–03 | 3,161,046 |
Prostate Cancer
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made in implementing the NHS Prostate Cancer Programme of 2000. [126991]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Good progress has been made since the national health service prostate cancer programme was launched on 6 September 2000, setting out the Government's approach to improving prostate cancer services in England and Wales.
As part of the prostate cancer risk management programme (PCRMP), evidence-based primary care resource packs were sent to all general practitioners in England from 23 September 2002 to aid them in counselling men who are worried about prostate cancer, ensuring the men make an informed choice about whether or not to have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.
Other elements of the PCRMP include ensuring that a systematic and standardised follow-up pathway is available for individuals whose test result is above the PSA threshold and action to improve the quality of laboratory testing of PSA samples. Primary care and laboratories were informed of the related recommendations from the scientific reference group, which supports the PCRMP in September 2002.
By 2003–04 the Department of Health will be directly funding £4.2 million of research a year on prostate cancer. This is a twenty-fold increase compared with 1999–2000. Two National Cancer Research Institute prostate cancer research collaboratives have been established in Newcastle and London. Funded research includes studies on various treatments for prostate cancer, improving the PSA test and ethnic differences in prostate cancer incidence. The National Cancer Research Institute considered prostate cancer as part of its Strategic Analysis in 2002, but made no specific recommendations.
The Department is funding a Section 64 grant to the Prostate Cancer Charity to increase availability of further information about prostate cancer. This is supporting the creation, review, provision and dissemination of a range of awareness material, supported by £135,000 over three years. 96.6 per cent. of patients with suspected urological cancers (including prostate) were seen for their first out-patient appointment within two weeks of their general practitioner deciding they should be urgently referred, and the hospital receiving the referral within 24 hours, in January to March 2003.
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The cancer services collaborative is modernising cancer care, including prostate cancer, by reducing unnecessary delays in the system for patients throughout the cancer journey.
The number of consultant urologists grew from 382 in 2000 to 427 in 2001, and is set to grow to 504 in 2005.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government has to introduce a public awareness campaign for prostate cancer. [126992]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Under the National Health Service Prostate Cancer Programme we have launched a number of initiatives to increase the public awareness of prostate cancer.
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme was launched in July 2001 to educate the public, patients and professionals on the risks associated with individual testing for prostate cancer. To aid this evidence based primary care packs have been produced and have been distributed to all general practitioners in England.
We are also providing funding to the Prostate Cancer Charity to increase the available amount of information about prostate cancer. This funding supports the creation, review, provision and dissemination of a range of awareness material on prostate cancer.
We have also set up the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group to facilitate collaboration between the Department of Health, voluntary groups and patient and professional groups in all areas of prostate cancer, including awareness. The group met for the first time recently and decided that a sub-group would be formed to take forward the issue of public awareness.
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